Indeed I live! And as a break from chapter 2 I fiddled with the beasts
in the greenhouse. Some of my Sarrs are contending with an interesting
disease I've never seen before---I'm going to take a few bits to the
plant pathology department and see what they say.
And another source of plant irritation, but of a different kind...Last weekend
the missus and I spent a day digging a muddy hole on some Nature Conservancy
land in order to help establish a new habitat for some endangered leopard
frogs. Well, I get home and what do I find? A rash on my legs from Poison
Ivy (_Toxicodendron radicans_, aka _Rhus radicans_). Sure, I saw plants in
the area and knew what they were, and sure I avoided them, but apparently not
well enough. What bugs me is that I spend so much time goofing with plants,
caring for them, keying them, studying them, etc., that these plants should
have left me alone! Some kind of detente should exist! They should have
responded with, ``Oh, that's Barry---he's ok.'' I guess not, huh? Sheesh!
:)
Some nice news though---I'll soon have flowering on my _U. tridentata_,
_G. pygmaea_, and _G. repens_, all of somewhat secure IDs and the first
two have never flowered for me yet.
My _D. heterophylla_ has re-entered dormancy. This tuberous species is new to
my collection, recently arrived from Lowrie, and as such is confused with
seasons. But I am pleased that its tuber has enlarged considerably from
the time of its planting. Miracid works on this species too! I am fascinated
by this plant, since I think it may be unique among the Droseraceae in that
it has many petals, instead of four or five. It hasn't flowered for me, but
in photographs it looks like a composite at a distance!
Finally, while my _Heliamphora minor_ merely continues to live and put out
pitchers, both of my _H. heterodoxa X nutans_ and _H. minor X heterodoxa_ are
producing bigger and bigger pitchers. The largest one is perhaps 3cm diameter,
6 cm tall. And as our ingenious contributor Dave Britt can attest, I'm growing
these plants in intolerable conditions---60% humidity, 110F, standing in
water. Maybe the plants are in some microclimate, but in any event, I
consider myself fortunate!
Barry